(Source: MIRS.news, Published 08/25/22) The moss has long been cleaned out of the gutters of Rep. Graham Filler (R-DeWitt)'s declared new home off a dirt road in Duplain Township.
It was a few days after the Detroit News report raised questions about whether the two-term House member had really moved out of his $500,000-plus Watertown Township home to live in a neglected residence with knee-high grass.
It was hard to determine who was more surprised. The MIRS reporter seeing Filler outside the garage, getting ready to fire up the lawnmower again or Filler to see a MIRS reporter walking up his driveway.
"I'm thinking about cutting a little further out from the house," he said after the greetings were exchanged.
Yes, he said, he lives at this house. Yes, he's been so busy campaigning, he hasn't been keeping it up.
And, yes, Filler isn't the only legislator who moved out of a home he or she owned to take up residency in a lower-valued rental to run in a more politically advantageous district.
A week-long MIRS investigation into real estate records, elections records, affidavits and in-person visits to around two dozen properties found Filler in the same boat as five other legislators who did the exact same thing.
The on-ground check-ins resulted in a MIRS reporter getting a door shut on her face at the declared former home of Rep. Helena Scott (D-Detroit) and another where Sen. Rosemary Bayer (D-Beverly Hills) could be heard through the doorbell camera of her prior residence, but she declined to open the door.
Sen. Jon Bumstead (R-Newaygo) wasn't at his declared new residence both times MIRS visited. After a week of trying to contact him, he still hadn't returned a call to clarify where he lives.
On top of that, Sen. Kim LaSata (R-Niles) said she moved in with a cousin. And Sen. Dale W. Zorn (R-Ida) moved into his 500-square-foot family cottage.
In all, the new independent redistricting lines sent a combined 10 lawmakers scrambling to relocate to one of the newly-drawn districts best suited for them.
So, while the phenomenon isn't new, the fact the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission (ICRC) couldn't and didn't take legislators' current homes into consideration when drawing lines created more scrambling than usual, said Adrian Hemond of Grassroots Midwest, a company that has worked numerous legislative races in the past.
"This is a tale as old as time," he said.
Rep. Graham Filler (R-DeWitt), Sen. Rosemary Bayer (D-Beverly Hills), Sen. Jon Bumstead (R-Newaygo), Rep. John Roth (R-Traverse City), Rep. Helena Scott (D-Detroit) and Rep. Rodney Wakeman (R-Freeland) all declared as their residency newly rented units that are smaller and of lower home value than their purchased home, which they all currently still own.
Sen. Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit) and Rep. David LaGrand (D-Grand Rapids) purchased new homes before the filing deadline. Chang picked up and moved into the new district.
Chang and her husband, according to realtor records viewed by MIRS, sold their English Village home in early March. To avoid a primary against Sen. Paul Wojno (D-Warren) in a Warren-based district, she moved into a property that overlooks the Detroit River as it curves around the Belle Isle island.
LaGrand bought a Grand Rapids home for $601,400 after redistricting placed him in the same Senate district as Sen. Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids).
His new residence, a large brick house in downtown Grand Rapids, was undergoing roofing renovations, with a large collection of political lawn signs placed in the front yard when MIRS paid a visit. A sign on the front door requested that visitors knock at the back, but no one appeared home.
Sen. Michael D. Macdonald (R-Sterling Heights) and Rep. Bryan Posthumus (R-Cannon Twp.) are running in residences different from their last legislative run, but both moved before the redistricting lines came out.
History is mixed in how voters treat legislators who have a toe in the district they are running in while having a permanent, purchased district.
Former Sen. Burton Leland and Rep. Gabe Leland made no bones about living in the Lansing area while representing the city of Detroit in the legislature. But when questions were raised about whether Democrat Lon Johnson lived in a "tar-papered shack" out in the woods Up North, the question stuck like the roof of the old hunting cottage.
In this crop of 10 who moved into a new district, eight advanced to the general election while two lost in the primary.
Legally, however, if there's ever been an instance where someone was kicked off a ballot for a residence requirement, Peter Ruddell of the Honigman law firm can't think of one.
"It's next to impossible," he said "The law allows for a homeless person to run for office. If you have an intent to return to a domicile, it allows you to run for office from that address."
Ruddell successfully fended off legal action when former Rep. Kristy Pagan faced this question in 2019.
But the case that most sticks in his mind was in 2008, when then-House candidate Greg Moore filed for office from an address where the home on the property was still under construction at the point of the filing deadline.
The judge ended up allowing Moore to remain on the ballot.
"It is a significant issue with regard to legislators, because the requirement is that you live in the district at the time you become a candidate and certainly, at redistricting time where districts are redrawn, many legislators that want to continue to be elected sort of face a choice," said election law and campaign finance lawyer Steve Liedel. "Do I move to best do that?"
The case that stuck with Liedel, who's worked in and around Lansing since 1989, was from the 1970s in Michigan, when then-Rep. John Engler and his previous wife, then-Rep. Colleen Engler, were serving in the Legislature at the same time, each representing a different district and with unalike full-time addresses.
Liedel underscored there is nothing illegal about spouses residing at dissimilar locations.
Overall, he can think of multiple instances where the issue of whether a candidate was actually living in the new district they were campaigning in was brought up.
"Often it comes around redistricting time," Liedel said. "But the lawsuits aren't as common. There's a question as to whether or not the courts will take someone off the ballot, and in many instances, the ultimate arbiter if the election has occurred may be the Legislature deciding whether to seat the member or not.
"It's not an easy thing to prove, which is why you don't see a lot of litigation on this," he said.
